TURA: Thousands of passengers from Garo Hills are being compelled to pay steep prices for travel in public transport due to the decision of transport operators to raise ticket pricing even though the cost of diesel has drastically come down across the country over the last few weeks.
The impact is being felt most among the student community, many of whom are returning from their studies outside the region for the festive Christmas season.
“We were shocked to know that operators have increased the bus fare between Shillong to Tura by a whooping Rs 150 in just a matter of two months. This is daylight robbery,” said a group of angry young university students who had booked tickets to return to Tura for the holiday season.
Anger is palpable among many travellers who have questioned the rationale behind the move to raise prices to such steep numbers.
“We can understand if they increased the ticket fare by about 10 to 20 rupees due to the rise in fuel prices sometime ago, but to do so by over a hundred rupees clearly means someone is profiting at the expense of the travellers,” an angry passenger informed.
It may be mentioned that the steep rise in fuel prices some months ago has since fallen drastically across the country.
Some of the affected passengers had even approached social groups which in turn had petitioned the district administration to ensure regulation of the prices, but that had apparently failed to change things on the ground.
There are allegations that transport operators are taking advantage of the holiday season since the largest number of passenger travel takes place during this month as thousands of students and employees studying or working outside the state return home for Christmas.
The hike in tickets has been across the board with the fares raised for travel to both Shillong and Guwahati and also Siliguri by bus, Xylo and Sumo operators.
Night bus operators have raised the prices by an additional Rs 100 for Guwahati, Rs 150 for Shillong and a whooping Rs 230 raise in travel by bus to Siliguri.
Interestingly, when contacted by The Shillong Times a bus operator claimed that the hike was due to the rise in cost of insurance, vehicle registration and maintenance. It is worth mentioning that while insurance is once a year, vehicle registration fees once paid do not need to be done again for some years.
Meanwhile, with major transport operators raising their ticket fares a chain reaction has begun to take place with even local operators starting to charge higher prices for travel. One example of rise in local fare is travel from Tura to Williamnagar in which the earlier Sumo taxi fare of Rs 160 has now been raised to Rs 190.
Ticket chart
Tura-Guwahati Night Bus: Rs 350 per ticket (previously Rs 250).
Tura-Shillong Night Bus: Rs 500 (earlier Rs 350).
Tura-Siliguri Night Bus: Rs 680 (earlier Rs 450).
Tura-Guwahati Day Zylo: Rs 500 (earlier Rs 400).
Tura-Shillong Day Sumo: Rs 600 (earlier Rs 500).
WGH bus operators unhappy over directive on fares: Meahwile, public bus operators from West Garo Hills have expressed unhappiness over the recent order issued by the transport department directing them to charge fares only as per the government approved rate.
Earlier, the West Garo Hills Bus Association had announced new enhanced fare rates to be charged from passengers which was turned down by the authorities.
In their letter to the Commissioner and Secretary of the Transport Department in Shillong, the vehicle operators pointed out that maintaining the government approved rate would mean a roll back from the current fare being maintained since 2012.
“The fare rate from 2012 to October 2018 was Rs 1.43 per Km. If we maintain the rate approved by the government, it would mean a roll back to Rs 1.05 per Km, which is unfair to us. How can we run our vehicles at a loss?” claimed vehicle operators.
The operators pointed out that other than the rise in the prices of petrol and diesel, Road Tax, Sale Tax and Insurance including the prices of vehicle parts and tires has increased. The operators added that road condition in Garo Hills was another factor to consider as vehicles frequently breakdown needing repair, resulting in financial burden to the owners.
Recalling that in 2012 when the vehicle fares were increased, the price of diesel was only Rs 43/- per litre, the operators questioned why their decision to enhanced fares was being turned down now when the price of diesel had gone up to Rs 73/- per litre.
The vehicle operators appealed to the authority concerned to bring a solution considering the points put forward while cautioning that they may have to stop running their vehicles to cut further losses if the problem was not addressed.
